Massive storm sweeps through Ontario, into Quebec

A massive summer storm has swept through parts of Southern Ontario, over-turning vehicles, uprooting trees and ripping the roofs off buildings. Some unconfirmed reports also indicate a tornado may have touched down.

Power outages and damage from wind is being reported across much of Ontario. Environment Canada has warned residents in the path of the storm to take cover, avoid driving through large puddles on the road and to watch for flash flooding.

Portions of the region were under a tornado watch on Friday afternoon.

“The thunderstorms are moving eastward at 70 km/h and are capable of producing damaging winds as well as the threat for a tornado,” warned Environment Canada as the weather system moved through the area.

“A roof has been reported blown down in the Petawawa area and trees have been blown down.”

It’s unclear if any of the damage in the region was caused from a tornado or simply high winds from the storm. In Orillia, Ont., even street lights were snapped from their moorings and fell into the road.

The main storm front hammering the Ottawa and Montreal area appears to have largely missed Toronto, but a second storm front could still wallop the southern portion of the province. It will hit the Kitchener-Waterloo area, before moving in Toronto’s direction, later into the afternoon and early evening.

At the same time, a different storm front hammered parts of Saskatchewan and sent hail into the streets of Regina.

The storm front is expected to move through the rest of Ontario and into Quebec. The good news is the cold front triggering the storms will break much of the heat wave that has broiled Eastern Canada for the past week. Temperatures over the weekend are about ten degrees lower than they have been throughout the week.